The Un-Cuomo

Some Attorneys General still abide by the values of respect for law and prosecutorial discretion.

Updated March 27, 2009 12:01 a.m. ET

Richard Blumenthal and Andrew Cuomo are making careers in Connecticut and New York, &agrave; la Eliot Spitzer, from hounding Wall Street executives. But some state Attorneys General still abide by such out of fashion values as respect for law and prosecutorial discretion.

On November 19, Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, urged all 50 state Attorney Generals to "consider the appropriateness of inquiring whether financial institutions located within your State have violated (or would violate) State law by making certain executive compensation payments to executives and top management." He cited approvingly Mr. Cuomo's probe into AIG perks and bonuses.

Then came the answer from Madison, Wisconsin. The state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen -- let's call him the un-Cuomo -- was "troubled" by the Senator's missive. "Rest assured," he wrote Mr. Grassley, "we will evaluate . . . on a case-by-case basis and make appropriate prosecutorial determinations."

The closing paragraph of his January 6 letter, a public document that hasn't been previously published, offers a useful civics lesson for our political Torquemadas:

"However, I will not be initiating investigations through press releases, nor will I treat all corporate executive expenditures as presumptively wrongful. Wisconsin law certainly does not. Financial institutions (and other businesses) on the verge of insolvency are ill-advised to make unnecessary expenditures, whether to executives or otherwise. At the same time, contractual obligations are generally to be fulfilled, work should earn compensation, and there is no law in Wisconsin making a contract illegal simply because someone is well compensated. Absent specific information indicating a transaction is fraudulent as opposed to foolish, I will not use my office to threaten litigation in an attempt to micromanage Wisconsin's businesses. Corporate governance is generally a matter for shareholders, not public officeholders."

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